


Get Used To It

by sweetfsh



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: ADHD Jester, ADHD Mollymauk, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Autistic Caleb Widogast, Canon Non-Binary Character, Deaf/HoH Caleb Widogast, F/F, Friendship, Gen, Other, Slow Burn, Trans Caleb Widogast, Trans Character, but i need you all to know that jester and caleb are trans gay/lesbian neurodivergent solidarity, the last two don't come up as much in this one, trans jester
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2019-10-08 05:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17380571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetfsh/pseuds/sweetfsh
Summary: A modern with magic au where everyone is alive and also Beau and Jester fall in love.





	1. Devil's Day

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Ricky Montgomery's song by the same name. I'll add characters, relationships, and other tags as they come. (Molly, Caduceus, and Yasha will be in the next chapter!)

The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon the moment Jester pushed open the door to her apartment and slipped out. She grabbed the lanyard around her neck so she could see her house key amidst the pile of colorful keychains, making a small noise of triumph when she finally found it and leaned forward to lock the door. She dropped the lanyard, instead tucking her hands around the straps of the backpack she had chosen for today, the little rainbow accents drawing her eye.

With a small stifled yawn, she was off on her way, stomping her feet every now and then so she could hear the satisfying click of her boots against the cement. There were some buildings on her street, but most were apartment buildings as well, and the rare business didn't open this early. Some of them were really nice to look into anyway, though, because they were well decorated. She stopped every couple minutes to look into one of the shop windows, cooing over the various displays and the art hung in the window of the tattoo parlor. 

At the tattoo parlor, she slung her bag off of her shoulder to rifle around in it, pulling out a sheet of stickers. Very carefully, she peeled a little kitty off of the sheet and stuck it to the window in front of a design of a tiger. She considered this for a minute, biting her bottom lip and worrying it between her teeth before nodding and slipping the sticker sheet back into her backpack. A bell affixed to the door of the parlor gave a little jingle, making her giggle while she pulled her backpack on.

Her work done, she crossed the street with a smile and repeated the key-searching scenario at the little coffee shop at the corner of the block. She shimmied the key into the lock, sliding her way into the shop and flipping the little sign to open in one motion. The shop wasn't _technically_ , technically ready for customers but it was like, at least thirty minutes until the first customer would be coming in, so it would be fine.

After pulling her apron - covered in various pins and stickers and even one earring stuck into the fabric - out from behind the counter, she threw her backpack the five feet into the staff room behind the counter and put the apron on, tying it into a little bow in the back. She haphazardly packed some grounds into the coffee machine and reached over to press the button, wrinkling her nose at the loud whirring it made before finally accepting the grounds and starting to make the coffee. The coffee machine, fondly named “Crusty,” was like, a billion years old, so it made really crunchy noises while it worked and also the coffee didn't taste very good. That was more the fault of the cheap nasty coffee they used though, so she patted her hand on Crusty's shiny little top before moving to the store room.

Of all the things about working here, she hated the pastries the most. They were all prepackaged and not even warm and tasted _all_ the _same_ but one time she tried to bring her own cookies in and she got in big trouble, so she just grimaced at the packages before pulling them off the shelves. She knelt down to put some shitty scones in the display, all the pins on her apron jingling together with her movements, when the door opened with a little jingle.

She tried to lift her head to see who it was, but ended up banging her horn on the top of the little door, which didn't really hurt but the vibrations to her skull _sucked_ so she yelped and brought her hands up to her horn to soothe it.

“Jester?” she heard a concerned voice above her. She squinted up and saw a flash of green and it was like, a big flash of green so she was like:

“Fjord!”

“Are you alright there, Jester?” He asked, looking almost ready to maybe not leap over the counter, but perhaps walk quickly around the other side to help her. She was _touched_.

“I'm okay!” She assured him, rubbing her horn just a little more before grabbing the pastries beside her and shoving them into the display. They didn't look nice that way, but they weren't nice, so she just shrugged and wiped her hands off on her apron and closed the little door. “You're early!”

“The sign says open,” Fjord shrugged, relaxing and sitting in one of the seats at the counter once he'd seen she was alright. “And you know I run sometimes.”

“Not on _Thursdays_ ,” she sniffed, pushing herself up to stand on her little clicky boots. “You said Thursday is the devil's day, which, you know Fjord, that's not very nice because I'm like, at least part devil.”

“I'm sorry Jester,” Fjord said, sighing but with a little smile so she knows they're cool. “I promise to never call Thursday the devil's day anymore.”

“Aw,” she said, tapping her finger to her chin in thought. “Maybe you can if it's like, a really good Thursday, you know? Like you get to go to the beach, or like maybe hang out with friends, or like have sex.”

“Thanks, Jester, I'll keep that in mind,” Fjord said, choosing not to acknowledge any mention of sex. “How was your night?”

“It was okay,” Jester said, drawing out the sounds in 'okay.’ She leaned against the counter, resting her cheek on her hand. “I had to work _so much_ yesterday so I couldn't even paint before falling asleep. The traveller didn't mind, because he's like _the coolest ever_ , but I haven't been able to paint anything for him for like, a week.”

“I'm sorry Jester, that sounds rough.” And that's why Fjord is like, Jester's best friend. Sometimes people tell her that painting isn't important or that working is more important than the traveller or that the traveller isn't even that cool, which is just the wrongest thing she's ever heard, and Fjord actually listens.

“What about you?” Jester asked, wanting to return the favor. 

“Ah, I was pretty busy too. After work I decided to go to the gym and met up with a friend,” Fjord said, shrugging. “It was alright.”

“Ooh,” Jester cooed, immediately intrigued. “Are they a friend I knoow? Oh! Also are they a friend or like, a _friend_.” She wiggled her eyebrows to get the point across that she was, in fact, talking about sex again.

“Just a friend!” Fjord spluttered. He was also her best friend because he was so easy to tease, she decided. “Put your eyebrows back down!”

“Fine,” she huffed, furrowing her brows for the effect. “But do I knoow them?”

“I don't think so,” Fjord said, after thinking about it for a minute. “I did tell her that I usually stop here for coffee, though, so you might see her sometime.”

“Oh! that's exciting!” Jester gasped, pressing her hands to her cheeks and barely noticing the bell over the door jingling again. 

“What's exciting?” A smaller green figure asked, sort of cloaked in a way that you couldn't see the green but Jester is like, really good at spotting colors. 

“Nott!” Jester gasped again, reaching a hand over the counter to grab at Nott's own. “I feel like I haven't seen you in _forever_.”

“We came in on Monday though?” Nott squeaked, allowing her hand to be held. Jester looked up to see another person behind Nott, and even if she didn't like, know him, there was only one person it could be.

“Oh, I know, but I missed you!” Jester said, patting Nott's hand with her free one before letting it go. She turned to sign and speak. “Hello Caleb! I missed you too even though you only sit in the corner and read because you're a nerd.”

“Thank you, Jester,” Caleb said flatly, as if he wasn't holding like _three_ books right then. She wasn't going to tell him that though, because he had his cat sitting on his shoulder and she wanted to pet him _so bad_. Technically pets weren't allowed in the shop but Caleb's kitty is just so cute and also not even a real kitty and also what her bosses don't know can't hurt them.

Fjord, who is apparently allergic to even _magic_ kitties, doesn't like this policy of hers, but she gives him Benadryl and also tissues so he just makes funny faces when Caleb brings his kitty.

“Aw, you brought Frumpkin!” she squealed, stretching out her hand so the cat could sniff it and trying to sign with only one hand. “Oh, I love him so much he's so fluffy and cute and sweet. You're the best little kitty!” She cooed at him, and she saw Caleb roll his eyes but she _knows_ that he loves his kitty and also talks to him like a little baby all the time.

Also Frumpkin hopped down onto the counter and Frumpkin does what Caleb says and Caleb said that Jester got to pet the kitty.

“What was exciting?” Nott asked, watching her scratch Frumpkin behind the ears and tell him he's pretty. Jester looked up for a minute, pausing in her scratching and making Frumpkin make a little ‘mrrrpb’ noise and she maybe squealed again.

“Oh! Fjord has a friend that he says I don't know but also he says that he told her about this shop so maybe she'll stop by sometime and then maybe I _will_ know her!” Jester said and signed quickly so she could pick Frumpkin up off of the counter in her arms to hug. He tolerated this.

“Oh,” Nott frowned at the bandages on her hand, picking at them before smiling up at Jester. “That is exciting!” 

This is why Nott is like, her best friend.

“It is!” Jester nodded, swaying Frumpkin side-to-side and pressing a kiss to his tiny baby face before handing him back to Caleb. “I love making new friends and Fjord is good with people so I think if he's friends with her I will be too!”

“Yeah!” Nott said confidently, before turning to Fjord in doubt. Fjord shrugged, so Nott just smiled at her. 

“Oh! I didn't even realize that you guys have been in here for like, so long and I didn't even ask you what you want!” Jester turned to Fjord expectantly because he was here first and also likes black coffee which is easy to make and also gross.

“Just a medium black coffee, thanks Jester,” Fjord said, and she called it. She swiped a cup from the counter, her bracelets jingling with the motion, and gave it to Crusty who very reliably filled it up for her. She handed it to Fjord and looked at Nott.

“Um,” Nott looked surprised even though she knew it was coming. She held up three fingers and started counting on them: “a hot chocolate in the only size, a large black coffee for Caleb, and one of those chocolate muffins.”

“Nott,” Jester said very seriously over Crusty, who was filling up the big, nasty coffee. “I can make you muffins. You don't have to eat these stinky bad ones.”

“I know,” Nott said just as seriously. “But I think they're good because I've eaten literal garbage.” 

“That's fair,” Jester decided after a moment of thinking about it, reaching into the display to grab a muffin and handing it over. “But I _will_ make you good muffins and then you'll know how stinky these are.”

“Okay,” Nott said.

Jester handed over the drinks too, and Nott left a little pile of bills and coins on the counter before shuffling over to the corner where Caleb was already reading because he's a _nerd._

The next couple hours passed quickly, Jester sorting the money and getting it put away and also slipping salt into one of the sugar containers at a table and also putting a sticker on Crusty. Fjord left after about an hour to “continue his run,” but it'd been like, two hours, so he was just going for another run she thought.

It was just her and her other friends for a while, but also anyone who walked in was basically a friend but also nobody did so there was just the three of them.

Then, at around nine, the door jingled again and Jester straightened from where she'd been leaning on the counter, her tail swishing around slowly so she could hear the little bell on it.

In the doorway, looking a little wet maybe from rain and maybe from sweat, was a human woman with brown skin and really nice blue eyes. She had an undercut, which was so cool, and the long part of her dark hair was up in a bun that was tied with something blue. Jester also found herself noticing that the human was wearing a crop top and had _really_ nice abs. 

Hello, new friend.

“Hi!” Jester called out, smiling broadly when she caught the woman's gaze. “Can I help you with anything?”

“Oh, uh,” the woman's eyes widened. Her leg was bouncing a little bit where she was standing and she was biting her lip. “Can I get, uh. Iced caramel coffee and a bear claw?”

“The pastries are bad,” Jester said.

“Excuse me?” The woman looked taken aback, pausing halfway through opening her wallet. 

“The pastries are stinky and bad and come out of a package and like, aren't even warm and also don't even have any cinnamon,” Jester leaned in closer, like she was telling a secret. “I would _not_ recommend them.”

“Okay?” the woman gave a little huff of laughter. “What would you recommend then?”

“Well, my friend Nott likes the muffins but also Nott has eaten actual garbage,” Jester told her, still leaning up close. “And I don't like any of them but I guess the muffins are the least stinky maybe.”

“Huh,” the woman said, and her leg wasn't bouncing anymore and she was looking at Jester. “I guess I'll take a muffin then.”

“Okay! I'll get Crusty started on your coffee and then I'll grab it for you!” Jester leaned back again, grinning. She grabbed a cup from the counter and the pink sharpie she keeps behind the counter for when she gets bored. “What's your name?” She asked, even though the woman is the only one in line so it's not like she _needs_ to know her name for the actual coffee transaction. 

“Oh, uh, Beau,” the woman told her, looking up from her wallet again. 

“Beau,” Jester repeated, drawing out the sounds and liking how it felt in her mouth. She wrote it on the cup and gave the cup to Crusty to fill up. She grabbed a muffin and took the cup from Crusty when it gave a pitiful sputter. Before she handed it to Beau though, she picked the sharpie up off the counter and drew a little smiling Jester on the cup, and also a flower, and also wrote her number on the cup. She capped the sharpie and handed the drink to Beau.

“Okay, here you go!” Jester took the money Beau handed her. Beau's knuckles were all red and bruised, but Jester smiled like she didn't notice. “I wrote my number on the cup so you can text me and we can be friends.” 

“Uhh,” Beau said, her face flushing a little red. 

“You don't have to! But I also drew a little me on the cup so you remember who I am just in case,” Jester said seriously. “So if you want to text you can!”

“Uhh,” Beau said again, and Jester was starting to think she had broken her. “Thank you?”

“You're welcome!” Jester grinned, her tail swishing happily behind her. “Have a nice day, Beau!”

Beau stared at her for a minute before nodding, grabbing her muffin off of the counter, and walking out the door, the little jingle ringing out behind her. 

Jester smiled to herself, grabbing her sharpie again to draw on the napkin, and maybe taking a little break to look at her phone and fiddle with the charms on it and hope Beau texts her. She totally didn't draw Beau on her napkin.

She left the shop after her shift with her arms full of nasty pastries and arrived home with empty arms and a grin on her face.

Fjord was right. It was the devil's day today.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jester plans a get together, we see the others, and Beau Appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY for the wait here's beaujest and Mighty Nein Shenanigans.

Jester nearly threw her phone across the room when he fourth little jingling alarm tone started playing, until she remembered that Nott got her the phone case and it would have been really kind of sad if it broke.

Instead, she furiously tapped at the screen until it was silenced, her nails clicking against the screen sharply. Instead of getting up, like her clicky nails told the phone, she buried her face in her softest pillow and made a string of noises that could have been complaints or just a big, long “ugggghhhhh.” Her softest pillow was shaped like a cupcake with a little pink wrapper and it muffled the sound to the point where _she_ couldn't even tell what she was saying.

Finally, once she had gotten all of her waking-up shouts out of her system, she dragged herself up out of bed and tried to smooth out the horrible wrinkles in her dress. She maybe definitely fell asleep after painting really late the night before, so she was still wearing the same thing as yesterday. It also maybe definitely had paint on it. Eventually, she deemed it unsalvageable without actually washing, and stood up. 

Stretching, she took stock of the room and all the totally cool paintings she had done for the traveller last night. Her tail swished happily behind her when she saw the one she had done of a little beach. The traveller had said that one was his favorite, and she wanted to believe it was because it looked like home. 

Not that the traveller really had a home, as a cool amazing powerful _god,_ but maybe he had seen how much it meant to her and chose that one. That was just as good, she thought.

It wasn't _super_ super early like it was the days she had to open the shop, so she could actually see the sun streaming through her curtains and hitting the paintings and the little flags she had pinned to her wall. There were pillows and clothes and paint brushes and boxes strewn on the floor, and some little beads and glitter shakers in the corner. She _loved_ it. 

She didn't love, so much, the two steps she took from her bedroom area to get to the kitchen.

“People _loove_ tiny houses,” she reminded herself, poking the button on the coffee maker to give her boiled water so she could have not coffee. She decided not to mention out loud that it was people who had lots and lots of money that loved tiny houses, rather than the people who _had_ to live in them.

Still, even though her house was tiny and her bedroom was technically a corner but cooler, she had to stand on her tippest of toes to reach the tea in her cupboard. It was lavender and smelled soo good and she was happy she had it for times like these when she felt like just staying in bed. 

When her tea was done, she shook out a couple pills from each of her little bottles and took them with the tea. She didn’t have to be in to work for two whole hours, a benefit of taking the afternoon shift, so she allowed herself to get ready at a glacial pace.

Once she was finally ready to go, she had fifteen minutes for a three minute walk, so she peeked through the windows of the stores again, bouncing a little when one would be actually open, unlike they were in the early mornings. When she got to the tattoo shop, she did a little scan and broke out into a full grin when she saw that her little kitty sticker from yesterday had remained untouched _and_ that somebody had put a little sticky note next to it. It was a pen drawing of a tiger, much less detailed and fancy than the big one, and there was a “Rawr” written next to it in a shaky hand. 

She heard the bell above the tattoo parlor door ring like laughter, and she knew the traveller appreciated it too.

When she arrived at the coffee shop on the corner, she did her usual routine of snagging her well-decorated apron and tossing her backpack into the staff room, but after she added the bit of giving Caduceus a big hug. 

“Hello Jester,” he said, leaning over the counter to reach down to her level. He graciously allowed her to give him a kiss on the cheek, and then rose back up to his full height, straightening out his own, less decorated apron. 

“Hi! How was today? Did you see any of our friends? Did anybody try the new tea?” Jester’s tail swished behind her, the little ribbon she had tied to it today making whoosh-y noises. Caduceus smiled at her, and grabbed a cup from one of the stacks. 

“Good, yes, and no,” he said, giving Crusty the gentlest of pats before turning on the hot water. He did a bit more to the cup, adding some things she couldn’t see once he had turned away. “Caleb and Nott came over a while ago - Caleb is still over in his corner - and Fjord stopped by sometime in the morning. Nobody has tried the tea, except you.” 

He handed her the cup, and her tail started swishing even harder. 

“Thank you!” she said, after letting out a suitably dramatic gasp, sitting on a stool, and taking it in her hands. She took a sip, and it was just like all the other teas Caduceus put out to sell. Delicious and warm and tasting somehow like a warm hug. “It’s perfect!”

“Ah!” Caduceus said, his eyes widening and his smile getting bigger, like he was surprised even though she said that _every time_ because they were _all_ perfect. “I’m so glad you like it!”

“I always like it,” she assured him, because it was true and also he loved making tea, and also their bosses didn’t want him selling his tea either but they didn’t know yet and she loved how he made the place better. “Did anything fun happen today?”

Caduceus thought for a moment, pursing his lips like he was taking her question seriously. This was why Caduceus was her best friend. 

But then he sighed. 

“No, not really,” he told her, sounding a little sad and a little bored and that _would not stand._ “Nott caused a bit of ruckus, but doesn’t she always?”

“She does,” Jester said seriously. “I love her.”

He laughed a little bit, pink hair falling over his face. “Yeah! But there’s been nobody else in today, aside from the regular tired morning crowd.”

“How much trouble do you think we would get in, maybe, if we made ourselves some fun?” She asked him, grinning big enough that her fangs stuck out, hidden behind her cup of tea. Caduceus looked at her, blinking, before he also smiled.

“Probably a lot,” he said, turning to wipe his hands on a towel next to the sink. “I’ll call Molly.”

“Yes please!” Jester set her cup on the counter and hopped off of her stool. “Call Molly! He’ll bring Yasha and I can bother Caleb to tell me where Nott went and I’ll text Fjord and it’ll be _so fun!_ ”

“We’ll still be working,” Caduceus reminded her gently, still smiling. 

“You’ll only be working for the next hour,” Jester waved a hand at him. “And I like making drinks for our friends.”

“Even when you don’t have sprinkles?” Caduceus raised an eyebrow at her from where he was looking at his phone, tapping slowly. 

“Caduceus,” Jester shook her head, pretending to be sad, her hair and ribbons swishing nicely against her horns. “I brought them. Duh.” 

Caduceus called Molly.

-

“Jester!” Molly cried, swooping in with the jingle of the door ringing behind him to give Jester a hug, both with his arms and also twining his tail with Jester’s so it was like an extra special _tiefling_ hug. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in so long!”

Yasha ducked into the shop behind him, careful not to make the bell do any more of it’s ringing than it had to. She smiled at Jester before turning to Caduceus and saying something real quiet. 

“Oh, I know!” Jester cried, lifting Molly off of the ground in a crushing hug that might have startled him if he hadn’t received at least one of these hugs per week since they’d met. “I know we saw each other last weekend but I missed you!”

She set Molly down on the floor, his long hair looking slightly more wild but grinning super wide. “I saw the sticker you put in the shop window. Very cute.” He said, eyes crinkled with his smile. 

Jester gasped, grabbing his hands in her own. “Were you the one who put the sticky note! I thought so because Yasha has really flowey handwriting and also I _know_ you’re the one who did the tiger art because it’s just so colorful and _you_.”

Molly laughed, squeezing her hands once before letting go. “It was me! You’ve caught me.” He turned towards the others. Yasha had a steaming cup of tea now and was talking to Caduceus, who was smiling. “Can I get one of those too, Deuces?” 

Jester didn’t hear Caduceus respond because the bell on the door rang again, but she assumed the answer was an emphatic yes. 

In the doorway was Caleb, who had been here just a few minutes ago but left to go get Nott, who was pulling things out of her pockets before nodding and putting them back. 

“Hallo, Jester,” Caleb said quietly, but he looked happier than she had seen him all day, so she assumed he was being default-Caleb quiet. “We’re all getting together?”

“Well,” Jester said, drawing out the sounds to be about five syllables, wiggling her fingers as she thought of what to say. “Me and Deuces still have to work, but he’s off soon and working is always more fun when all of you are here!”

“I- ah,” Caleb ducked his head, smiling when Molly hopped up to sit on the counter, talking animatedly with his hands while Caduceus listened with rapt attention. “I agree, I think. Except when you draw on my papers while you are on your break.”

“But _Caleb_ ,” Jester leaned close to Caleb, whispering like it was a secret and signing smaller. “Your papers are _so boring._ ”

“Ja,” Caleb said seriously. “But they are important, and my professors do not believe me when I say a trickster defaced my homework.”

Jester couldn’t help giggling, because the traveller would _love_ that. Before she could tell him just how funny his professors thinking he drew dicks on his own assignments was, the bell above the door rung again. 

“Fjord!” Jester called, turning quickly enough to almost smack Caleb with her tail. When she got a good look, though, she didn’t see any green. Like, at all. 

“Oh, I, uh,” Beau looked suddenly nervous, faced with all of them in the shop looking at her. “I thought you guys were open. I can go?”

“We are!” Jester assured her quickly, brushing her hands down her apron to smooth it out and hoping her hair wasn’t too messy from her Molly-lifting. “You’re totally good!”

“Okay,” Beau said slowly, her leg bouncing where she was standing just like she was doing yesterday. 

There was a moment of silence, everyone not yet getting back to what they were doing but also doing their best not to stare at Beau too much. 

“Can I… Get a drink?” Beau asked, looking at Jester in a way that Jester thought sort of meant ‘help me.’

“Oh!” Jester jumped to action, skipping around the counter and coming to a stop behind Crusty, smiling really big even though she wasn’t sure Beau could see it. “Hi!”

“Hi,” Beau said. Jester wasn’t sure if she looked more relaxed or not, but at least she was focused on Jester instead of the others. The others were good, of course, she loved them a lot, but Beau kept shifting between her feet like she wanted to go away and that was the _last_ thing Jester wanted.

“What do you want?” Jester asked her. “ We have all the normal stuff we usually have but also Caduceus made tea! His tea is like _super_ good and kinda feels like a hug when you’re drinking it and also if you want coffee or hot chocolate I brought like, actually good whipped cream and also sprinkles so I can make it _super extra_ special for you!” 

Beau looked a little stunned, staring at Jester for a minute before huffing out a surprised almost-laugh. “Uh… Tea sounds good, I think.”

“Okay!” Jester said, punching things into the register with the very tip of her finger. Caduceus was already pressing buttons on Crusty next to her, and she made a mental note to tell him that she appreciated him a _whole lot_ because he got off work in like _two seconds._ “It’s hibiscus, is that alright?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Beau said, giving her a tight-lipped smile before going to pull her wallet out of her pocket. 

“Wait!” Jester tapped her side of the counter, making Beau pause and tense up. “It’s on the house! On one condition.”

“What is it?” Beau narrowed her eyes, looking like she would much rather just pay but also maybe looking a little curious. Jester hoped, anyway. 

“You can have the tea,” Jester said slowly, making her tail _behave_ and swish slowly behind her instead of fast like it wanted to. “And a muffin, even. All for free! If you stay and hang out with us?”

“What?” Beau sort of kind of made it sound like it wasn’t a question and she’d frowned and Jester maybe felt her palms get a little sweaty. 

“Honestly, you can have it on the house anyway even if you just leave because you look like you need it,” Jester said, fast this time and looking down at her chipped left ring nail. “But! You only get the muffin if you stay.”

“The ‘stinky,’ pre-packaged muffin?” Beau asked, with a hint of a smile on her face maybe? 

“Uhhhmm…” Jester looked around like there would be a better, cooler muffin sitting on the counter next to her. “Yes.” 

There was a moment where Beau just stood there looking at her. In fact, it really seemed like everyone was standing there and looking at her. Even Molly, who had been chatting kinda loudly at Caleb and Nott this whole time.

“...Sure,” Beau said with a shrug, poking her wallet back into her pocket where it was like, hanging out a little bit. “I don’t have much to do today anyway.” 

“Yes!” Jester cheered, grabbing the cup from Caduceus when he offered it and also quickly grabbing a muffin from the display case. “This is gonna be so much fun! Okay so this is Caduceus, he has like _the best tea_ in the world and he’s my best friend.”

Beau took said best tea from her with a bemused look. “Hi Caduceus,” she said and Cad gave her a little wave and smile back and then went to take his apron off because he was free now.

“And over there is Yasha and Molly! They work at the tattoo place near here. Yasha does a lot of black and white stuff and Molly is super super good at color!” Jester told her, pointing at each of them. They each gave a wave back, although Molly’s was really just a vague hand movement. “I would say that they are also my best friends but they are each other’s best _best_ friends so I’m second best friend.” 

Molly reached a long arm over to pat Yasha awkwardly on the head. Yasha tolerated this. Beau looked a little bit stunned but maybe it was just the being introduced to lots of new people thing. 

“And over there is Caleb and Nott! Nott is really cool and she’s the friend who likes the muffins, if you remember,” Jester started signing as they made their way over to the other table. Nott glared a tiny bit but she’s just a little bad with new people. “Caleb is a huge nerd who’s like, going to school for like twenty whole years and sometimes reads for like days. He also has the cutest kitty in the universe! But not here right now. They are both also my best friends.”

“Sup,” Beau said simply, shoving her hand that wasn’t holding tea in her big sweater pocket and using the one with the tea in to sign hello. Jester respected this. Caleb also seemed to respect this, nodding at her and poking Nott on the shoulder to make her stop glaring.

“Hallo, Beauregard,” Caleb he said, holding his page in his book so he wouldn’t lose his place and rubbing his fingers over the paper. 

“Hey,” Beau said, still shuffling and fidgeting but looking a little better talking to Caleb than Molly and Yasha maybe. Hopefully. 

“You two know each other already?” Jester waved her hands at them in excitement before signing the same thing to Caleb. 

“Just from school,” they both said at the same time. Beau scowled at Caleb, but only like, really lightly, and Caleb didn’t seem offended or anything.

“He helps in one of my classes and works in the library,” Beau said, clearly so Caleb could see but not signing. She’d said hello, but maybe she only knew the basics. Maybe they would have to teach her more. “It’d be weird if I didn’t know him.”

“True,” Caleb nodded, tilting his head. “But you do not go to the library as often as you should, Beauregard. I’ve taken that class.”

“Eh, whatever,” Beau rolled her eyes. “You just say that because you probably sleep there.”

“I don’t sleep in the library,” Caleb told her, absentmindedly starting to fold the paper at the corner even though he hates dealing with it later. “I have a perfectly good apartment.”

“You sometimes sleep in the library,” Nott said after tapping his hand, both to get his attention and also to remind him about the book. 

“Lies and slander,” Caleb deadpanned, but he smiled a little at her and then Beau. “It is good to see you, Beauregard.”

“Ah, shut up,” Beau shoved her free hand into her big pocket again, taking a sip of her still steaming tea to maintain her cool image. “Good to see you too.”

Caleb turned back down to his book and Nott flopped down to into her seat, so Jester assumed the conversation was over and tapped Beau’s shoulder.

“I have one more best friend but he’s running _so_ late. He’ll probably show up in like, fifteen minutes because he likes to run places instead of doing something faster,” Jester explained, leading Beau back over to the counter because she was looking a bit nervous again. “But other than him that’s everyone! Nobody else really comes here except for this cool girl Cali sometimes and also Pumat and sometimes Bryce even though they hate coffee.”

“Okay,” Beau said, shuffling a little still but also taking her hand out of her big pocket. Jester must have been talking like, a long long time, because Beau’s tea was almost gone and she hadn’t even noticed. 

“Do you want your muffin now?” Jester asked kindly. “You can have more tea.”

“Oh,” Beau wiped her mouth with the back of her hand after she drank the last bit. “Sure. Thank you. The tea is really good.”

“Caduceus!” Jester shouted maybe even though he was right there talking to Yasha and Molly. He was crammed into a little chair at the side of their table, pointing at something on his phone when he looked up. “Beau says your tea is ‘really good!’” 

“Thank you, Beau!” Caduceus smiled big a bright. “I made it myself!”

“He means the blend not your tea specifically,” Jester told Beau in a mock-whisper. “But he did also make your tea but now I’m going to make your tea. Is that cool?”

“Yeah, that’s... Cool,” Beau took a seat on one of the little stools close to the counter while Jester started convincing Crusty to give her hot water, muttering at it and also giving it encouraging pats on the side when it made a particularly pathetic noise. 

Midway through brewing the tea, the bell on the door rang again, and this time when Jester’s head shot up, it was the blur of green she had been expecting earlier. 

“Fjord!” she cried, raising her arms up so quickly she almost knocked Beau’s tea over and her bracelets made a really loud jangle against each other. “You made it! You said you would but you took, like, forever.”

“I ran,” Fjord said simply, looking embarrassed and Jester tried to give Beau a little look because she _knew it_ but Beau was already looking at Fjord.

“Hey! I didn’t know you’d be here,” Beau looked excited suddenly, grinning, and Fjord did a little double-take while Jester stood there with Beau’s tea. 

“Beau! What are you doing here?” When he got to the counter he did a little half-hug and fist-bumped Beau, who ignored her own bruised knuckles to do so.

“Uh,” Beau glanced at Jester, who made an “oh!” noise and handed her the tea. “Just here for a drink.”

“You aren’t going to stay?” Jester asked, tail drooping down to brush the floor. Fjord raised an eyebrow at Beau. Maybe Beau and Fjord didn’t like each other? But they hugged kind of and Fjord isn’t the kind of person to hug if he doesn’t like someone. What if Beau is only there for Fjord and she was just humoring Jester and-

“No! I-” Beau’s face darkened, only barely noticeable with her dark skin, while Fjord’s eyebrows reached new heights. “I’m going to stay! I just- I came for a drink to begin with. Yeah.”

“Oh!” Jester’s tail lifted off of the nasty floor, giving a little shake when it got up again. “Good! You can have as much tea as you want. I usually buy a box when Caduceus makes it anyway so you can share with me!”

“Cool,” Beau said, nearly shoving her cup of tea into her face as it grew darker. Fjord looked like he had lost his eyebrows in his fringe. 

“Cool,” he repeated, looking between Beau and Jester for some reason. “Can I get a coffee?”

“Oh, hello Fjord! My day was nice.” Jester leaned over the counter, resting her chin on her palm. “How was yours? Not too boring I hope.”

It was Fjord’s turn to blush, his face turning a handsome green color. “Sorry, Jester. I got distracted. I told you I told Beau about this place! I just wasn’t expecting her so soon.”

“Wait, wait, wait-” Jester shot up from the counter, hopping up and down, pins on her apron jingling against each other. “Beau was the friend you told me about? The not-sex friend?” 

Beau made a choking-snorting noise into her tea, hunching over to the side to cough. 

“Yes! Very not a sex friend!” Fjord was turning a less-handsome shade of green. “We exercise! We’re work out friends!” 

“Sex is an exercise,” Jester said, channeling Caleb in her deadpan and making Beau choke again. Jester handed her a napkin. “But yes okay you ‘exercise.’ Wink.”

“Wha- uh-” Fjord spluttered. Beau, at this point, had gotten the tea out of her lungs and started laughing really loud and brash and cute. “Don’t say wink out loud!”

“You weren’t looking at me!” Jester pouted, crossing her arms and trying not to smile at Beau, who was trying to collect herself, leaning over the counter and resting her arms on it for support. “How would you know if I did wink?”

“Jester,” Fjord groaned, hiding his face in his hands so much she could barely hear him. “The point was to _not_ see you wink.”

“Can confirm,” Beau wheezed. “Not sex friends. Fjord isn’t my type, like, at all.”

“Oh?” Jester frowned, feeling the need to defend her friend. Beau was really cool, but Fjord was her friend first. “Fjord is like, super handsome.”

“Eh,” Beau shrugged, leaning back in her stool and lifting her arms above her head to stretch. She looked a little nervous, even with all the stretching and sort of flexing like she was doing. “I’m like, super gay.” 

“Oh!” Jester said, mentally doing a little fist pump motion and physically smiling. “That’s cooler than thinking Fjord is handsome.”

“Hey!” Fjord pretended to be wounded, holding his hand to his heart and leaning his chin into his chest.

“That’s true!” Molly piped in, from where he had been seemingly watching the conversation the whole time turned around in his chair. Yasha was there too but she was like, on her phone and at least pretending not to listen.

“Maybe true,” Fjord agreed. “Have I filled up my socialization quota enough for a coffee yet, Jester?”

“You only talk to me because I make you stinky coffee,” Jester sniffed, offering Crusty a cup. It very reluctantly started churning out coffee. “You’re so mean.”

“Thank you, Jester,” Fjord grinned instead of playing along. Jester pouted, but grabbed his coffee after Crusty gave it’s tiredest sounding beep. She drew a squid on his cup. “How much?”

“A billion dollars because you’re mean to me,” Jester told him, still pretending to sniffle “Emotional damages.”

“I don’t talk to you just for coffee,” Fjord told her after sighing at her but not really in an exasperated way. “I promise.”

“It’s on the house!” Jester brightened, grinning and handing over the squid-decorated cup. She’d managed to draw three more in the time he took to say that. “You came to keep me company while I work. Because you looove me.”

Fjord gave her a half hug over the counter instead of saying anything, but he was like, kinda sweaty, and Jester didn’t say anything either so she thought they were even. Acts of love. 

Then he went to go greet everyone else and she heard Molly and Nott squealing when he tried to hug them because he’s sweaty. More acts of love. 

“I’m really super glad Fjord told you about this place,” Jester told Beau, looking down at her hands again and feeling her tail twist itself up like the ribbon and other stuff she used to decorate it. 

“So I could try the ‘stinky’ pastries?” Beau raised an eyebrow, but she was _clearly_ enjoying her second cup of tea. 

“Noo,” Jester wrinkled her nose at just the thought of the stinky pastries. “Because you seem really cool and you’re Fjord’s friend so I _know_ you’re cool and I like making friends.” 

“Oh,” Beau said, brushing the bridge of her nose with the back of her hand and looking away for a second. “You seem cool too, I think?”

“Thank you!” Jester preened, fluffing her hair with one hand. “I don’t try at all. That’s the cool thing to say, right?” 

“Definitely.” Beau said after huffing a little laugh that made Jester smile very big. “So, what are the plans for tonight?”

“Well,” Jester drew the sounds out while she thought, pressing her hand to her cheek. “I technically have to work but nobody really comes in here at this time for coffee because it’s the week and people like to sleep sometimes. I mean, caffeine doesn’t really work on me or anything but I hear from like _everywhere_ that it really sucks and keeps you up.”

“The plans?” Molly reminded her, still turned around in his chair to face her, perching on his toes and draping his arms on the back of the chair. Yasha looked extremely used to this and also like she was still playing phone games under the table. Jester straightened and signed a quick thank you to him before looking up at the ceiling and trying to remember what she was going to say.

“Oh! We were just going to hang out until my shift is over and then maybe walk over to the bowling alley down the street,” Jester said, looking back at Beau to explain. “They close after a while but then we get food.

“Sounds fun,” Beau nodded, but her eyebrows were all furrowed and she looked like she wanted to be in her big pocket again. 

“You don’t have to actually bowl!” Jester was quick assure her, patting the counter next to her cup in comfort since she couldn’t reach her shoulder without climbing up. “It’s encouraged but only because we don’t want anyone to not have fun! Caleb only ever really bowls like one in twenty times that we go and only when Molly convinces him.”

Molly saluted her with two fingers to acknowledge this, still turned around in his chair. “It’s not that hard! You just all give up too fast when he pulls the ‘oh I’m so foreign and I didn’t grow up doing this so I’m bad at it.’”

“He is a little bit bad at it,” Jester told him, but Molly just shrugged, jewelry jingling. “But it’s not about being good! It’s about having fun! We can do something else if you don’t think it’ll be fun?” she turned to Beau, concerned.

“No! It sounds good,” Beau said hurriedly, still holding her empty tea cup and picking at the lip. “I just have to be back home by midnight tonight.”

“Oh, that’s fine!” Jester waved a hand, smiling again. “We never really go past that. It is like, a weekday. And we can get bowling alley food in case we go for a while!”

“Jester,” Molly whined, leaning his cheek on his shoulder to be cute.  “Bowling alley food sucks.”

“I’ve had good bowling alley food!” Jester protested. She’s been to one in her home town that had like, actually good pizza and things that weren’t just stale nachos.

“ _This_ bowling alley food sucks,” Molly amended, then stuck his tongue out at her.

Jester also stuck her tongue out at him, leaning over the counter to poke his hand. “Better!” 

“Jester,” Yasha broke in, almost apologetically. “Do you have any cookies we could bring? We’ll get food too but bringing something we know is good will be nice too.”

“Sure! I made some last night!  I’ll just have to stop by my house and grab some before we head over.” Yasha gave her a thumbs up and a grateful smile. Jester turned back to Beau. “We’re not actually supposed to bring any food with us, but I know if I give whoever’s working tonight some of the cookies they’ll be like, totally fine with it.”

“What happens if they aren’t?” Beau wondered, tilting a head at her. She had set her empty cup aside and had her hands tangled in front of her on the counter, looking like she actually cared about what Jester had to say even though it was just about smuggling cookies into a bowling alley. 

“Oh, they probably just confiscate them and eat them by themselves in the back or something,” Jester shrugged after thinking about it for a second. “It’s never happened to me before, but that’s why I’ll bring my big purse.”

“How many purses do you have that you have to specify a big one?” Beau smiled at her. Jester thought she might be teasing maybe.

“Like, two. But one of them is really small,” Jester said, a bit of a giggle in her voice. “I have my backpack, though! I like to bring them with me to work and stuff just in case I get _really_ bored and want to do something on break. Also so I can bring sprinkles and stuff.”

“Ah, the sprinkles,” Beau said, nodding and leaning back in her chair. “You weren’t kidding about that?”

“Beau,” Jester said seriously, placing her hand over Beau’s one that she was using to push the chair back to a near-dangerous degree. Beau almost dropped herself back down but managed to stay up. “I am never kidding about sprinkles.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to have the bowling trip in this chapter but then it would be Super longer than the first chapter and also it's been so long since the last chapter anyway. I JUST REALIZED IT'S BEEN 6 MONTHS THANK YOU FOR THE PATIENCE I LOVE YOU ALL.  
> my tumblr is mothedmen if u wanna hang out or prod me

**Author's Note:**

> Hey !! I hope you liked this part! This is my first time writing Critical Role fic and I rarely wrote fic before this, so let me know if I made any mistakes/how I did!  
> I have edited this now for Quality and also to retcon in Caleb being Deaf/hard of hearing because it's a very good headcanon.


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